1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to measurement devices for sheet materials, and more particularly, to measurement devices which facilitate the accurate determination of the quantity of carpet which should be delivered to an installation site, such as a home or office.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The retail carpet industry has long been plagued with the problem of how to best calculate the quantity of carpet which should be delivered to a particular site for installation. For the purposes of better understanding the critical importance placed on these calculations, the basic operation of the retail carpet industry is described below.
When a customer chooses a particular carpet for a home or office, the carpet retailer will usually quote the customer a price based upon the number of square feet of floor which must be covered with carpet. However, it is important to understand that carpet is manufactured and sold to carpet retailers in rolls having a standard width. In the United States, for example, carpet is sold to retailers in rolls having twelve foot widths. Therefore, after the floor plan of the installation site is known, the carpet retailer is faced with the usually difficult task of calculating how many linear feet of carpet to cut from the standard width roll and send to the installation site. The difficulty of this task will be made more apparent below.
If the retailer maintains the particular desired carpet in stock, the retailer will then deliver the calculated length of standard width carpet to the installation site. If the retailer does not carry the chosen carpet in stock, or if the retailer does not have the calculated quantity of the chosen carpet in stock, then an order must be placed with the manufacturer for the calculated quantity or an entire roll. In either event, the carpet is then installed at the installation site by employees or contractors of the retailer.
If too much carpet is delivered to the installation site, the excess carpet, which usually must be discarded as waste, results in unnecessary expense to the customer.
A much more serious situation arises when an insufficient quantity of carpet, called a "short measure", has been delivered to the installation site. Unfortunately, the fact that a deficiency exists is usually realized only after a majority of the delivered carpet has been installed and considerable installation time has been expended. In such a case, the retailer will usually first determine whether he has a sufficient amount of the same carpet in stock to overcome the deficiency. If he does not, the retailer must contact the manufacturer to see whether the manufacturer can cover the deficiency with the same dye lot. If the retailer is unsuccessful in obtaining the additional quantity of the matching dye lot, then the installed carpet must be removed and replaced with an amount of a new carpet which is sufficient to cover the entire floor. In many instances, the removed carpet is not suitable for reuse.
Also, once the retailer has agreed with the customer as to the total price and estimated yardage needed for the job, and once most of the carpet has already been laid, it is highly unlikely that the customer would agree to pay more money for the extra yardage needed at this stage. The retailer therefore must absorb the additional expense.
The costs incurred by a retailer when an insufficient quantity of carpet is delivered to the installation site can be substantial. In the more serious situation, where the remaining carpet required to complete the installation cannot be obtained, the retailer must absorb the cost of the original carpet and also the cost of its installation and removal. Moreover, even if the deficiency in the previously installed carpet can be made up from the retailer's stock or can be supplied by the carpet manufacturer, then the installation schedule is disrupted, orders may become backlogged, and the carpet installer's time will not be utilized efficiently. As may easily be envisioned, short measures may seriously affect the profitability of a carpet retailer.
Many factors go into the proper calculation of the amount of carpet which should be delivered to an installation site. First, a minimum quantity of carpet corresponding to that which is required to cover the entire floor must be supplied to the installation site. To this minimum amount must be added additional quantities which are due to several factors. For example, the retailer must take into consideration the grain of the carpet pieces which will cover the floor of the installation site. It is absolutely necessary to install carpet so that the grain of each piece runs in the same direction as the adjacent piece. A piece of carpet which otherwise may be of the correct size and shape to cover a portion of the installation site thus may not have the correct shape if it is turned so that its grain remains consistent with the adjacent carpet piece. In addition, the retailer must also consider the continuity of the carpet pattern at the seams of the carpet pieces. For example, a piece of carpet may be of the correct size, shape and grain direction to cover a portion of the floor, but its pattern may not be continuous with the pattern of the adjacent pieces.
As a consequence of the above-listed factors, waste or scrap pieces of carpet are usually created when the standard width carpet is cut during installation to fit the contours of the installation site floor. Since the cost of waste pieces must be paid for by the customer, it is desirable to minimize the amount of wasted carpet by utilizing carpet scraps, cut from pieces of carpet which have already been installed, to cover the floor of the installation site instead of using freshly cut pieces from the standard width carpet roll.
As can easily be seen from the above description, a miscalculation of the number of linear feet of standard width carpet to be delivered to an installation site can be a critical factor in the material and labor expense of the retailer, and to the inconvenience of the customer. With all of the factors which must be accounted for, the calculation is complex, and the likelihood of error is high.
Even if the above-mentioned factors are all properly accounted for by the retailer, on many occasions, the carpet layer may not install the carpet in the same manner envisioned by the retailer. As a result, the delivered carpet may not be sufficient to cover the entire floor of the installation site in an acceptable manner according to the customer (i.e., too many seams), even though sufficient carpet may have been delivered to cover the floor in an acceptable manner had the carpet been installed according to the retailer's plans. Since it is much more costly for the retailer if an insufficient amount of carpet is delivered to the installation site, most retailers err on the side of delivering too much carpet rather than too little, and unfortunately, the customer pays for the waste.